David Silva - 2016/17 performances

[blueinsa]

1 goal and 4 assists after 19 games

Sterling has 6 goals and 5 assists but is not all that apparently.

The truth is Merlin has been a magnificent player for us but is not getting any younger and is increasingly becoming less effective on the pitch.

He will be moved on sooner rather than later because its the natural progression of things and folk shouldn't take it so personally.

I feel the exact same way about Kun as well, no matter how unpalatable it might be for some as the team is far more important than any one individual.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

I love watching those clips from early in the 11/12 season, when Silva was running the show at Tottenham and the swamp.
However, it was a different, assertive, slicker, quicker Silva who was cutting inside and finding Richards/Zabaleta with those little reverse passes.

Now he takes an extra touch, and is frequently knocked off the ball, forever complaining about a non existent foul.
Yes, he still has some decent moments, but he's nothing like as dominant.

 

[Shaelumstash]

De Bruyne had an absolute shocker on Saturday and there's no doubt that Silva was much better in the second half. But just remind me how him "running the game" ended up at 90 minutes? That's my major criticism of Silva. Lovely player to watch but nowhere near enough end product, which his 4 assists in 19 games shows. However he did have quite a decent effort on goal which makes a change.

Running the game doesn't necessarily result in assists or goals. Look at Xavi as an example of someone who ran games for Barcelona. He always wanted the ball, knitted the whole team together and dictated the tempo of the game. Silva has adopted this kind of role this season as he's been playing a bit deeper.

We absolutely dominated the second half, I don't know the statistics but I'd be surprised if there was a player with more touches of the ball than Silva. We didn't create many chances, but we were playing at Anfield, they had 11 men behind the ball defending a one goal lead. It's tough to create chances in that scenario.

But for me Silva is the last person I would blame for us not creating chances. He needs runners getting in to space and invariably he'll find them. When DeBruyne has done his disappearing act at left wing, Aguero is completely out of sorts and Sterling is being outplayed by James Milner, what could Silva do? I know they call him Merlin, but he can't create something out of thin air, he needs the players in front to make good runs in order to find them.

There is no player in the league that has created more chances than Silva in the last few years. I think accusing him of a lack of end product is misguided.

As I've said many times, our best side is without question the one that started the season and won 10 games in a row. Fernandinho sat with DeBruyne and Silva in front, with Sterling and Nolito wide and Aguero up top.

That gets the best out of our two best players, playing them both in their favoured central position. It has two natural wide players who stretch opposing defences, creates space in the middle which Silva and KDB are masters of exploiting. It genuinely bends my head why we don't play that team anymore.

 

[PannickAtTheDisco]

Sterling has 6 goals and 5 assists but is not all that apparently.

The truth is Merlin has been a magnificent player for us but is not getting any younger and is increasingly becoming less effective on the pitch.

He will be moved on sooner rather than later because its the natural progression of things and folk shouldn't take it so personally.

I feel the exact same way about Kun as well, no matter how unpalatable it might be for some as the team is far more important than any one individual.

The only reason I can see why we persist with Dave is because Pep wants somebody else to come in and play that role in the line-up, and is thus getting the likes of KDB used to that setup.

Beyond that, the simple question of the season has been "KDB or Silva", one or the other in the line-up because I don't think the 2 together works anywhere near as well as it needs to for them both to be in the side. Sadly for Dave, he's on the wrong end of his career and we've just spent £50m+ on KDB, so he'll have to bite the bullet.

People say we look better without Gundogan because the 3 were cluttering up the midfield. I'd just say you need either Silva or KDB and to play 2 quick inverted wingers, then I think we'd have been much more effective at places like Anfield. Silva/Yaya/KDB just makes the whole problem worse.

 

[Shaelumstash]

The only reason I can see why we persist with Dave is because Pep wants somebody else to come in and play that role in the line-up, and is thus getting the likes of KDB used to that setup.

Beyond that, the simple question of the season has been "KDB or Silva", one or the other in the line-up because I don't think the 2 together works anywhere near as well as it needs to for them both to be in the side. Sadly for Dave, he's on the wrong end of his career and we've just spent £50m+ on KDB, so he'll have to bite the bullet.

People say we look better without Gundogan because the 3 were cluttering up the midfield. I'd just say you need either Silva or KDB and to play 2 quick inverted wingers, then I think we'd have been much more effective at places like Anfield. Silva/Yaya/KDB just makes the whole problem worse.

No one is saying one or the other. We won 10 games in a row with them both playing centrally. Our form has fallen off a cliff since they stopped playing in the middle together.

 

[Dax777]

Running the game doesn't necessarily result in assists or goals. Look at Xavi as an example of someone who ran games for Barcelona. He always wanted the ball, knitted the whole team together and dictated the tempo of the game. Silva has adopted this kind of role this season as he's been playing a bit deeper.

We absolutely dominated the second half, I don't know the statistics but I'd be surprised if there was a player with more touches of the ball than Silva. We didn't create many chances, but we were playing at Anfield, they had 11 men behind the ball defending a one goal lead. It's tough to create chances in that scenario.

But for me Silva is the last person I would blame for us not creating chances. He needs runners getting in to space and invariably he'll find them. When DeBruyne has done his disappearing act at left wing, Aguero is completely out of sorts and Sterling is being outplayed by James Milner, what could Silva do? I know they call him Merlin, but he can't create something out of thin air, he needs the players in front to make good runs in order to find them.

There is no player in the league that has created more chances than Silva in the last few years. I think accusing him of a lack of end product is misguided.

As I've said many times, our best side is without question the one that started the season and won 10 games in a row. Fernandinho sat with DeBruyne and Silva in front, with Sterling and Nolito wide and Aguero up top.

That gets the best out of our two best players, playing them both in their favoured central position. It has two natural wide players who stretch opposing defences, creates space in the middle which Silva and KDB are masters of exploiting. It genuinely bends my head why we don't play that team anymore.

I'll agree with you on what our best team is. The rest is historical though.

Of course David has created the most chances the last 6 years. He has been the best AM in the league over that period.

But just like I told you a year ago, if you pay close attention, you can see the decline. Great players always have great games, every now and then, but the consistency of being superior to everyone around stops occurring.

I guess the song I sang last year, and the promise that at most he had 2 years left is slowly being realized by the majority.

Again, I said last year if take Isco over Silva. One is heading to his peak the other is on the decline. No one beats time. No one. Not even Merlin :(

 

[daztrueblue91]

No one is saying one or the other. We won 10 games in a row with them both playing centrally. Our form has fallen off a cliff since they stopped playing in the middle together.

Or since we started playing 2 games a week on a regular basis.

 

[Bluwhit]

Laughable about Isco. Consensus in Spain is that he holds onto to the ball too long & slows the play down. Exactly what David is being criticised for.

 

[Shaelumstash]

I'll agree with you on what our best team is. The rest is historical though.

Of course David has created the most chances the last 6 years. He has been the best AM in the league over that period.

But just like I told you a year ago, if you pay close attention, you can see the decline. Great players always have great games, every now and then, but the consistency of being superior to everyone around stops occurring.

I guess the song I sang last year, and the promise that at most he had 2 years left is slowly being realized by the majority.

Again, I said last year if take Isco over Silva. One is heading to his peak the other is on the decline. No one beats time. No one. Not even Merlin :(

Yeh you didn't "tell" me anything. You made a point and I disagreed with you then, and I still disagree with you now.

People that view football primarily through the prism of statistics tend to have a limited grasp of the game in my view. Often they're incapable of analysing games on their own merit because they don't really understand what's going on.

3 of the best creative midfielders of all time, Xavi, Iniesta and Zidane had a worse goal-scoring, assists and chance creation record than Silva. But people don't question their brilliance. I've made the point many times, but I've yet to hear a single person take on that point and debate it.

This season Silva has been playing a lot deeper than in the past, his role has altered slightly. As you agree with me on our best team, I'm sure you'll agree our best team was similar in shape to Guardiola's classic Barca team. In our team, Silva has adopted the Xavi role of linking play up, always being on the ball, dictating the pace of the game, and DeBruyne has been more like a peak Iniesta of playing slightly further forward, creating chances, scoring goals.

Xavi didn't score too many goals or create as many chances as Iniesta, but he was just as vital to the team. Some would argue even more so. Silva won't create as many chances as he did in 2012, it's inevitable, he's playing a different role. But it doesn't mean he's finished, or just means he's playing a slightly different role.

 

[Shaelumstash]

Or since we started playing 2 games a week on a regular basis.

It's notable how we were absolute toss in the first half with 11 men, and were miles better in the 2nd half with DeBruyne and Silva in the middle with 10 men. It really isn't rocket science.